Lasting leadership: Cape Fear Valley Health CEO Michael Nagowski reflects on his career as he approaches retirement

By Emily Ruth Perry, posted Feb 19, 2026 on BizFayetteville.com

Mike Nagowski speaks to the nearly 300 guests who attended the medical school's groundbreaking ceremony in September 2024. Photo provided by Methodist University.

It would be an understatement to say that Michael Nagowski has made an impact on the Cape Fear Valley Health System (CFVH) in his nearly two decades as the health system’s chief executive officer. After 18 influential years in charge, Nagowski has announced he will be retiring this summer.

When Nagowski came to the hospital, Cape Fear was a regional hospital with the HealthPlex, a fitness and wellness center affiliated with their physical rehabilitation programs. Now, it boasts an interconnected system of eight hospitals, nearly 100 sites offering holistic care for residents in the region, making CFVH the eighth largest healthcare system in North Carolina.

Nagowski is enthusiastic about the work that his team has done in building up CFVH.

“It is a privilege to help lead healthcare in a region,” he said. “I’m so proud of the care we provide. We want people to receive world-class care and evidence-based care and we don’t want you to have to travel for it. We want you to get it right in your own locale. We think the best healthcare is delivered locally. And that’s really what has driven our entire growth trajectory.”

And that growth trajectory has proven incredibly fruitful, particularly when it comes to building a strong workforce.

“The residencies and fellowships have just been tremendous. We have over 360 physicians, every single day training in 20 different specialties… we have 2000 nurses...and then the relationships with our local schools have been very rewarding,” shared Nagowski.

CFVH has invested a great deal in building partnerships with Fayetteville State University, Methodist University and Fayetteville Technical Community College. By investing locally in the healthcare pipeline, they are equipping future nurses, doctors, medical technicians and staff, and Nagowski is excited that many of these medical professionals are homegrown in the greater Fayetteville region.

“We recruit from the region for our workforce and our patients come from the region… It’s important for us to represent the communities that we serve. Our communities are very diverse, and our workforce is incredibly diverse and well trained,” stated Nagowski.

Along with his passion for developing those in the field, it is also clear that Nagowski is a data-driven leader with the ability to navigate large-scale planning along with the intricate details of everyday operations. He describes starting his morning with reports giving statistics from the day prior, then operational meetings for monitoring everything from daily staffing to client satisfaction, as well as planning meetings for special projects which have propelled the organization’s various advancements over the years.

CFVH has invested a great deal in building partnerships with Fayetteville State University, Methodist University and Fayetteville Technical Community College. FTCC President Dr. Mark Sorrells and Cape Fear Valley CEO Michael Nagowski shake hands following the announcement of a $2 million contribution from Cape Fear Valley Health in support of FTCC’s Nursing and Allied Health programs. Photo provided by FTCC.

His decades of experience allow him to balance the large and small scale. Nagowski’s background is in information technology, and throughout his career in Buffalo, N.Y. and Erie, Pa. before coming to Fayetteville, he has served in many roles – department director, COO and CFO – that have given him a robust understanding of the healthcare system.

Nagowski has always kept the organization’s vision at the forefront of the team’s decision-making, which is providing exceptional healthcare for all their patients to improve their quality of life.

“This is what I tell everybody, and I even mentioned it in orientation. Think of yourself as the patient, and you make the decision as if you were the patient in the bed. What would you want the hospital to do?” explained Nagowski.

For Nagowski, the patient is at the center of all they do, and a great team of healthcare professionals are rallying together to drive care toward the best outcomes.

“Healthcare today is all about teamwork,” Nagowski stated. “Thirty years ago a doctor would write orders and the rest of the staff would follow those orders. Today you have a whole team of people who give input.”

Nagowski shared that he feels privileged to have worked with so many skilled and caring professionals. Among many friends and colleagues he named, he remembers working with Dr. Hersey Bell at Hamot Medical Center in Erie, who would later become the founding dean of Methodist University Cape Fear Valley Health School of Medicine.

He is also grateful to have worked alongside Daniel Weatherly for 15 years at Cape Fear Valley Health. Weatherly, who currently serves as COO, will become interim CEO after Nagowski’s retirement. While it is bittersweet for him to retire, Nagowski trusts the organization is being left in good hands.

“I am very confident in the team here, and the teams in the future are going to continue to meet the needs of our growing community. That’s what healthcare is supposed to be. We’re supposed to continue to grow and evolve. It’s a wonderful industry,” remarked Nagowski.

Something else that a career in healthcare has taught Nagowski is to appreciate the fragile and precious nature of life, which is why he’s looking forward to more time with his wife, children and grandchildren.

“When you’re in these kinds of roles, as you can imagine, it can be all-encompassing and what often gets the short end is your family,” Nagowski shared. “I want to make sure that in the time that my wife and I have left, that we get a chance to do the kinds of things that we want to do. My wife owns and operates a travel business. I think I’ve got some travel in the future, and I’m really looking forward to that… We have three lovely kids, and our four grandkids are here in Fayetteville. I’m looking forward to watching them grow up.”

While Nagowski will spend the bulk of his retirement enjoying his family, he will continue to give back to the profession through talks and other opportunities to support upcoming medical professionals.

“Healthcare is a calling and a moral obligation,” Nagowski shared. “We have a responsibility to help and care for others. I can’t think of a more noble profession than healthcare."

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